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Quorum of Seventy
Quorum of Seventy is one of the governing bodies of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Traditionally, multiple individuals holding the office of seventy are referred to collectively as "seventies" and are assigned to a "Quorum of Seventy". These brethren are considered also to be General Authorities of the LDS Church. History of the Seventy Seventy is a priesthood office in the Melchizedek priesthood of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). Traditionally, a Latter-day Saint holding this priesthood office is a "traveling minister" and an "especial witness" of Jesus Christ, charged with the mission of preaching the gospel to the entire world under the direction of the Twelve Apostles. The Seventy hold a unique place in Church history. As far back as the days of the Exodus, Seventy of the Elders of Israel were called by the Lord to come forth with Moses and be set apart from the people. (Exodus 24:1) These Seventy were to be especial witnesses of Jehovah in His dealings with Israel. In the meridian of time Jesus Christ himself "appointed other Seventy also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come." (Luke 10:1-2) Like the Seventy of Moses' time these Seventy were especial witnesses. These Seventy were ordained unto great power insomuch that they cast out devils in the Lord's name. As especial witnesses, they were used as missionaries in the Lord's True Church. D&C Section 107 "The First Presidency, the Twelve, and the Seventy constitute the presiding quorums, whose decisions are to be made in unity and righteousness;" (D&C 107:21-38) "And it is according to the vision showing the order of the Seventy, that they should have seven presidents to preside over them, chosen out of the number of the seventy; And the seventh president of these presidents is to preside over the six;" (D&C 107:93-100) The Seventy were restored to the Church on February 14, 1835 in Kirtland, Ohio. Originally called as a traveling council to work in the mission fields, they seem not (with the exception of their Presidents) to have functioned as General Authorities of the LDS Church though the Lord specifically granted them authority (when they spoke with a unanimous voice) equal to that of the First Presidency or the Twelve. Functionally, they existed as a quorum only in the earliest days of the Church. Then, as Brigham Young (1801-1877) explained, the members of the First Quorum became the Presidents of other quorums of Seventy. Had they been needed to function as a fully functioning Quorum in governing the Church, these other presidents would have been recalled to the First Quorum until that governing function had been completed. It should be noted that little is known of most of these men. Some apostatized in the great apostasy of 1837-1838 or later. Others fell to the persecutions of Missouri while others made the trek west and became patriarchs of large pioneer families. But for the most part they did not become renowned Church leaders. Their Presidency, herein called The First Council of Seventy, who always functioned as General Authorities is listed on a separate page. This page lists only those who served in the First Quorum of the Seventy during the Kirtland, Independence, and Nauvoo eras. The First Quorum of the Seventy were reconstituted in 1976 and these later Seventy are listed on a separate page. Members: Original Quorum of Seventy (1835) These Seventy were not sustained as Prophets, Seers. and Revelators. Many of these had just completed service in Zion's Camp (1834). # Elias Hutchings # Cyrus Smalling # Levi Gifford # Stephen Winchester # Roger Orton # Peter Buchanan (1798-aft1866) - Zions Camp # John D. Parker # David Elliott # Samuel Brown (1801-1882) - Zions Camp, only G.A. to be killed by indians. # Salmon Warner # Jacob Chapman # Charles Kelly # Edmund Fisher # Warren Parrish # Joseph Hancock # Alden Burdick (1803-1845) - Zions Camp, died in Nauvoo, later his family joined the trek west to Utah. # Hiram Winters (1805-1889) - Zions Camp, completed trek to Utah. # Harpin Riggs # Edson Barney (1806-1905) - Zions Camp, brother of Royal, missionary to Las Vegas, Utah pioneer. # Joseph B. Noble # Henry Benner (1800-1880) - Zions Camp, Utah pioneer, brother killed at Haun's Mill. # David Evans # Nathan Bennett Baldwin (1812-1891) - Zions Camp, # Burr Riggs # Lewis Robbins # Alexander Whitesides # George Washington Brooks (1808-1887) - Zions Camp, Later appointed to Far West High Council, Nauvoo High Council, "President" of Garden Grove. # Michael Griffith # Royal Barney (1808-1890) - Zions Camp, Utah pioneer # Libbeus T. Coons # Willard Snow # Jesse D. Harmon # Jesse P. Harmon # Joseph Harmon # Heman Tilton Hyde # Lorenzo Dow Barnes (1812-1842) - Zions Camp, 1st missionary of church to die in service in a foreign land, fulfilled two missions for church. # Hiram Blackman (1804-1895) - Zions Camp # William Dickinson Pratt # Zera S. Cole # Jesse Huntsman # Solomon Angell (1806-1881) - # Henry Harriman # Israel Barlow (1806-1883) - Zions Camp, missionary to England, help settle Nauvoo, IL and Bountiful UT. # Wilkins Jenkins Salisbury # Nelson Higgins # Harry Brown (1808-1852) - Zions Camp, Only G.A. to die in the Saluda steamboat tragedy of 1852. # Jezeniah B. Smith # Lorenzo Dow Booth (1807-1847) - Zions Camp, # Alexander Badlam (1809-1894) - Zions Camp, Member Council of Fifty and early branch president in Boston MA. # Zerubbabel Snow # Hiram Stratton # Moses Martin # Lyman Smith # Harvey Stanley # Almon W. Babbitt # William F. Cahoon # Darwin Richardson # Milo Andrus (1814-1893) - Zions Camp, led three pioneer wagon trains to Utah, a Bishop in Nauvoo, a Stake President in St. Louis. # True Glidden # Henry Shibley # Harrison Burgess (1814-1883) - Zions Camp, joined trek to Utah. # Jedediah M. Grant. # Daniel Stephens # Amasa M. Lyman # George A. Smith # Wilford Woodruff (1807-1898) (1837-1838) - Zions Camp, LDS Apostle and 4th President of the Church. Members: 1st Council of the Seventy The First Council of the Seventy, comprised of the first seven presidents of the First Quorum of Seventy, was organized on February 28, 1835, at Kirtland, Ohio, by Joseph Smith (1805-1844) in response to revelation regarding the organization of priesthood offices. Later, when it was determined that five high priests had been ordained seventies, the First Council was reorganized in April 1837, using only priesthood members who were seventies (HC 2:476). As outlined in Doctrine and Covenants 107:93-98, the Seventy "should have seven presidents to preside over them, chosen out of the number of the seventy." Other seventies could be called as needed, but the first seven presidents (First Council of the Seventy) were to preside over all the additional seventies as well as the First Quorum. Through the years the role of the First Council of the Seventy and their specific function as General Authorities of the LDS Church have been modified in such areas as the seventy's missionary role, their ability to preside and ordain, and their position as "especial witnesses" (Madsen, pp. 299-300). By 1936 the various seventies quorums scattered throughout the Church were placed under stake supervision. In 1961 members of the First Council of Seventy were ordained high priests with their primary calling being missionaries, but they also had the authority to act as administrators and direct the affairs of the Church in various parts of the world, under the direction of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. On October 3, 1975, the First Quorum of the Seventy was reconstituted as an entity, and on October 1, 1976, the members of the First Council of the Seventy and the Assistants to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles were released and added to the First Quorum of the Seventy. A new presidency of the First Quorum of the Seventy was sustained. Additional men were selected to be members of the First Quorum and to act as General Authorities to assist in the expanded functions of Church leadership (Ensign Magazine: Nov. 1976). # Hazen Aldrich (1797-1873) (1835-1837) Zions Camp, first LDS missionary to Lower Canada (1836), After the death of Joseph Smith, Aldrich went on to lead a breakaway sect known as the Brewsterites. # Joseph Young (1835-1881) # Levi Ward Hancock (1803-1882) (1835-1837, 1837-1882) - Zions Camp, only General Authority to serve in Mormon Battalion. # Leonard Rich (1835-1837) # Zebedee Coltrin (1804-1887) (1835-1837) # Lyman R. Sherman (1835-1837) # Sylvester Smith (1835-1837) # John Gould (1837-1837) # James Foster (1837-1841) # Daniel S. Miles (1837-1845) # Josiah Butterfield (1837-1844) # Salmon Gee (1837-1838) # John Gaylord (1837-1838) # Henry Harriman (1838-1891) # Zera Pulsipher (1838-1862) # Roger Orton (1845-1845) (sustained but never set apart) # Albert P. Rockwood (1845-1879) # Benjamin L. Clapp (1845-1859) # Jedediah M. Grant (1845-1854) # Horace S. Eldredge (1854-1888) # Jacob Gates (1860-1892) # John Van Cott (1862-1883) # William W. Taylor (1880-1884) # Abraham H. Cannon (1882-1889) # Theodore B. Lewis (1882-1882) (sustained but never set apart) # Seymour B. Young (1882-1924) # Christian D. Fjelsted (1884-1905) # John Morgan (1884-1894) # Brigham H. Roberts (1888-1933) # George Reynolds (1890-1909) # J. Golden Kimball (1892-1938) # Rulon S. Wells (1893-1941) # Edward Stevenson (1894-1897) # Joseph W. McMurrin (1897-1932) # Charles H. Hart (1906-1934) # Levi E. Young (1909-1963) # Rey L. Pratt (1925-1931) # Antoine R. Ivins (1931-1967) # Samuel O. Bennion (1933-1945) # John H. Taylor (1933-1946) # Rufus K. Hardy (1934-1945) # Richard L. Evans (1938-1953) # Oscar A. Kirkham (1941-1958) # S. Dilworth Young (1945-1975) # Milton R. Hunter (1945-1975) # Bruce R. McConkie (1946-1972) # Marion D. Hanks (1953-1968) # A. Theodore Tuttle (1958-1975) # Paul H. Dunn (1964-1975) # Hartman Rector, Jr. (1968-1975) # Loren C. Dunn (1968-1975) # Rex D. Pinegar (1972-1975) # Gene R. Cook (1975-1975) Summary Quorum of Seventy Created by the Mormon Prophet Joseph Smith (1805-1844) in early 1835, the Quorum of Seventy was to act as traveling and presiding ministers for the newly created The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Many of these men performed notable works for the early church, living near then church headquarters in Kirtland, Ohio. The Quorum of Seventy itself did not meet as a governing body of the church and was not renewed until reorganized by the church in 1976. Council of Seventy The Council of Seventy consists of the presiding seven presidents of the Quorum of Seventy, who were General Authorities of the LDS Church. The men of this council performed many noble works and missions for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints throughout its history. This group ended with the reorganization of the Quorum of Seventy in 1976. References * Grandpa Bill's GA Pages * Wikipedia:Seventy (LDS Church) Category: LDS Quorum of Seventy